Nigeria strikes costing economy $617 million a day-CBN

Nigeria's nationwide strikes against the government's removal of fuel subsidies is costing Africa's second largest economy around 100 billion naira ($617 million) a day, the central bank governor told Reuters on Thursday.

Nigeria removed subsidies on petrol imports on Jan. 1, more than doubling the price of petrol to around 150 naira per litre and pushing up the cost of transport, food and other goods.

Lamido Sanusi said he expected inflation to rise to around 14-15 percent by the middle of this year, up from 10.5 percent now as the impact of subsidy removal is felt on prices. The central bank's target of single-digit inflation is unlikely to be met until the end of 2013, he said.